Deer Isle Residents Receive Industry Partner Award from the Lobster Institute
Basil and Harriet Heanssler and their family, long-time owners of Conary Cove Lobster Company in the Sunshine area of Deer Isle, Maine received the Lobster Institute’s Industry Partner Award. The award recognizes companies that have a substantial history of working with and supporting the Lobster Institute in its mission to ensure a healthy, sustainable lobster resource and a vital fishery.
The award was presented at the Lobster Institute’s 2015 Canadian/U.S. Lobstermen’s Town Meeting, March 20–21 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Heansslers were very involved in the establishment of the institute. Basil Heanssler was one of the charter members of the Lobster Institute’s board of advisors in 1987.
The Heanssler Family has been involved in the lobster industry for generations. Basil’s father and grandfather also were lobstermen. Basil took over the management of the lobster company from his father in 1972. He still manages the company, with help from his children and grandchildren. His daughter Kathy is a member of the Lobster Institute’s board of advisors.
Through the years, the Heansslers have been generous contributors to the Lobster Institute, having made significant financial donations in both cash and gifts of land in both Downeast Maine and two island properties in Nova Scotia. Funds from the sale of this land were used to establish the Basil and Harriet Heanssler Lobster Institute Fund, endowed at the University of Maine Foundation.
The Lobster Institute, a division of UMaine’s Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, has been working with and on behalf of the lobster industry since 1987. It is an industry-driven organization focusing on conservation, outreach, research, and educational programs to sustain the lobster resource and maintain a vital fishery. More information about the institute is online.